If you feel like you’re encountering construction all over campus, you’re right. Mark Wheeler, university architect and director of planning, design and construction, says, “Currently, we have $248 million worth of projects in some phase.”

We touched base to find out what his team in planning, design and construction would like the campus community to know about these changes.

Three Things to Know About Campus Construction

1. It starts with big opportunities.

“What we do is disruptive,” Wheeler says. “There’s no way around it, and we’re up front about that.” Renovations, maintenance and repair processes often inconvenience people and sometimes displace them. It can be helpful to remember that this discomfort flows directly from great opportunities.

For example, Missouri State’s “Onward, Upward” fundraising campaign — the largest in our institution’s history — concluded in 2022 with a fundraising total over $274 million. “A significant portion of that was capital improvement,” Wheeler says.

The same year, we received $56 million in federal funding, including transformative appropriations for Roy Blunt Hall. In 2023, the C.W. Titus Foundation supported the construction of a new performing arts center with the largest gift in Missouri State history. The following year, a key donation made a new advancement center possible — just before we got the chance to join Conference USA.

When you have opportunities like these, Wheeler says, you have to make them work. There are also maintenance projects and repair needs. As a result, he says, “With 12 people in our office, we currently have 194 projects.” Thankfully, they can count on strong collaboration with partners across campus.

In Craig Hall, for instance, maintenance and renovations are happening during Tent Theatre’s 2025 season — making the scene shop, where sets are built, temporarily inaccessible. Tent’s leadership team compensated by programming shows that call for minimalist set designs.

“We’ve been planning this for a long time, so they got ahead of it,” Wheeler says. “They’re great collaborators who adjust well.”

2. Good change is contagious.

“When I first started, I was project manager for the Ellis Hall renovation,” Wheeler says. As that renovation wrapped up, Missouri State became an All-Steinway School, which drew fresh attention to our music programs and the new Ellis. Visitors raved about its airy, elevated interiors.

Walk Through Ellis Hall

“With all the positive feelings about Ellis, we started to look at the neighboring courtyard, between Craig Hall and Hill Hall,” Wheeler says. “It was a beautiful space, but it was underutilized.”

It was the exact space where, for years, people had dreamed of building a permanent structure for Tent Theatre. Now, this idea gained momentum. Thanks to generous donations, the Judith Enyeart Reynolds Arts Park and its centerpiece, the John Goodman Amphitheatre, opened in 2022.

Around this time, the Grand Street underpass underwent a renovation to create a more accessible, welcoming entrance on the south side of campus. Once this entrance opened, Wheeler says, it highlighted the need to replace the old Art Annex, and the C.W. Titus Foundation made a record-setting donation for a new performing arts center in memory of Judith Enyeart Reynolds.

“It’s a testament to our leadership: president, provost and deans — everybody pulling in the same direction,” Wheeler says. “Once the construction on that southeast corner of campus is complete, it’s going to be beautiful,” he says.

And if history is any indication, it may spark more good change.

3. Get ready to be wowed in fall 2026.

When you talk to Wheeler, a certain date keeps coming up. “In the fall of ‘26, the Craig renovations will be done, the new Reynolds building will be done, the Roy Blunt Hall interior renovations will be complete and the [Clifton M. Smart III] Advancement Center is scheduled to open,” he says. Once these projects are in the rearview mirror, expect campus to feel transformed.

In the meantime, his team is also tracking the following:

• Kemper Hall renovation (This is scheduled to be complete for the fall 2025 semester.)
• Cheek Hall renovation (Construction started this summer.)
• Plaster Stadium improvements related to Conference USA
• Sidewalk improvements (Sidewalk grinding is complete; sidewalk replacements, as needed, are ongoing.)
• Maintenance and improvements at Greenwood Laboratory School
• Plaster Student Union maintenance, repair and improvements (Including the Chick-fil-a renovation, which will pave the way for macaroni and cheese to hit the menu this August.)
• Maintenance and repair projects at Sunvilla Tower
• Third-floor buildout at Jordan Valley Innovation Center
• New flooring in Great Southern Bank Arena
• New flooring in Hammons Student Center
• Phase-two renovations at Kampeter Hall (Phase-one renovations were completed in 2022.)
• Additional renovations at Kings Street Annex (The start date for this project has not been set.)
• Rollout of additional maroon and other brand elements across campus
• Targeted improvements at Davis-Harrington Welcome Center

Follow Construction Updates

The team at planning, design and construction publishes weekly project updates. These briefing notes are organized by project, so it’s easy to get news about the ones that most affect you.

Review Weekly Construction Updates

Around Campus…

Recently, former U.S. Senator Roy Blunt enjoyed a tour of his namesake facility. Blunt walked through the expanded home of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CNAS) with Dr. Tamera Jahnke, CNAS dean. Jahnke, along with Dr. Jorge Rebaza-Vasquez, CNAS associate dean, and Laura Derrick, project manager/architect in planning, design and construction, jumped at the chance to show Blunt the finished addition and express gratitude for his support.

“The legacy of Senator Blunt’s service is present across Missouri, and you can certainly feel it here, in this state-of-the-art facility dedicated to scientific research and STEM education,” Jahnke says. “The teaching and research that occur in this building will touch countless lives.”

Rewind

Back in December 2022, Missouri State broke ground on the renamed Roy Blunt Hall. In a news release at the time, the university recognized Blunt’s support for “Missouri State’s academic and research missions and economic development operations.”

Jahnke praised the transformational nature of the project, citing its potential to promote interdisciplinary work that will “solve real problems in science for the future.”